Despite Polls, Giuliani Says That He Won't Alter His Campaign Style

By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Published: April 8, 2000

BINGHAMTON, N.Y., April 7—
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said tonight that he would not alter his campaign style in response to polls suggesting that his candidacy was in difficulty. He said that he, unlike Hillary Rodham Clinton, had a ''limited time for political campaigning,'' and that voters would ultimately judge him based on his mayoral record.

The Republican mayor, on a quick trip to this Southern Tier city, shook his head ''no'' repeatedly when asked if he would step up what has been a leisurely campaign pace, or spend more time upstate, as a number of Republicans urged him to do, particularly as polls have shown Mrs. Clinton jumping ahead of him.

Nonetheless, at a Republican dinner here tonight, the mayor appeared to acknowledge the concern of some upstate supporters, pleading for patience before 1,000 people who turned out for the Broome County Lincoln Day dinner.

''If you've felt I haven't been here enough, I ask you to please give me a break: I have a full-time day job,'' Mr. Giuliani said to a sweep of laughter and relieved applause. ''Tell your friends and neighbors that. Tell them that the mayor of New York City is like them. He works for a living. Also tell them if they need any indication of how hard I would work for them, just look at how hard I worked for the people of New York City.''

Mr. Giuliani hit the same theme at a news conference just before the dinner, when he was asked about a New York Times/CBS News poll that showed that he and Mrs. Clinton are tied upstate, a part of New York that is heavily Republican.

''I have a full-time day job,'' Mr. Giuliani said. ''And, I say this most respectfully, Mrs. Clinton doesn't. And she has endless amounts of time for political campaigning.''

Mr. Giuliani made his remarks in a day that -- for the first time -- found both he and Mrs. Clinton campaigning upstate. Their paths never crossed, but their days clearly illustrated the different styles the two candidates have adopted.

Mrs. Clinton, clearly buoyed by the turn in her fortunes suggested by the poll, headed to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan first thing in the morning to shake hands, then went to Rochester to give a speech on economic development. From there, she worked her way to Binghamton, stopping to shake hundreds of hands at a shopping center, and meeting with local supporters at a truck stop off Interstate 81 in Marathon. Seeming relaxed in the informal setting, where all but two of a normally more numerous contingent of Secret Service agents remained at a distance, Mrs. Clinton joked with patrons who seemed bewildered to have the first lady stride up to them over their late afternoon hamburgers and fish filets.

In Rochester, after delivering her speech on economic development, Mrs. Clinton asserted that her improved position in polls came because ''I'm talking about the issues and campaigning on the issues and presenting plans about what I would do in the Senate.'' She added: ''I have been around politics for more years than I care to discuss at this point, and I don't place any importance on what goes up or what goes down seven months before an election.''

In contrast to Mrs. Clinton's heavy schedule, Mr. Giuliani spent just two hours in the Southern Tier, giving an 8-minute news conference and his 22-minute speech. He scrapped a plan to make an impromptu campaign stop on his drive here.

And at his speech tonight, Mr. Giuliani spent as much time talking about the presidential race as he did about his own contest with Mrs. Clinton.

The mayor, whose Republican credentials have at times been suspect in upstate New York since he endorsed Mario M. Cuomo for governor over George E. Pataki in 1994, spoke warmly of Gov. George W. Bush, the likely Republican presidential candidate.

In an interview with New York One, Mrs. Clinton urged Mr. Giuliani to offer condolences to the family of Patrick M. Dorismond, the unarmed security guard who was fatally shot last month by plainclothes police officers.

Mr. Giuliani, at his news conference here, refused to discuss the question. ''I don't think I'm going to respond to her politicizing,'' Mr. Giuliani said. ''That was said purely for political purposes. People who politicize that situation, I think we know why they do it.''

In his speech, Mr. Giuliani said that one of the main differences between he and Mrs. Clinton was that ''I'm in favor of reducing your taxes, and my opponent is not.'' He also repeatedly referred, sometimes jokingly and sometimes seriously, to the first lady's running for office in a state where she had not lived before January. ''I can't believe that we're going to send to the United States Senate someone who doesn't come from New York,'' he said. ''That doesn't make any sense to me at all.''

A number of times this evening, Mr. Giuliani presented the election as a referendum on his mayoralty, saying that voters could judge what kind of senator he would be by examining his years at City Hall. That is why, he said, he could not spend as much time campaigning, or talking about what he might do in the Senate, as Mrs. Clinton.

Taken together, his remarks suggested that he would resist the push of polls or politicians to stray away from what is, in effect, a Rose Garden strategy.

''We are going to spend a lot of time campaigning,'' Mr. Giuliani said. ''But again, it's consistent with having a full-time job. I'm not going to be able to spend as much time in politics as my opponent.''

''I'm just going to keep moving ahead, and get our message out,'' he said. I'm not poll-driven. I'm not political consultant-driven. I'm driven by what I believe.''

Photos: Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, attending a Lincoln Day dinner in Broome County, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, greeting students from Arcadia Middle School at a shopping mall near Rochester, both campaigned in upstate New York yesterday. Their paths did not cross. (Photographs by Associted Press)